The Filibuster Wanes

At some point, either we or whoever succeeds us is going to have to establish new ways of treating opposition opinions with respect. Such respect enables people with deep disagreements to reason together to better ends.

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At some point, either we or whoever succeeds us is going to have to establish new ways of treating opposition opinions with respect.

That must begin with the opposition behaving respectably. So far, all the opposition has been offering is blatant, partisan obstruction of everything Trump and everything Republican solely because Trump and Republican.

Never mind the Progressive-Democrats' hypocrisy in demanding, when they were in power, that the opposition cooperate with them and work with them (their phrasing), while now that Republicans are in power, the opposition refuses to do either.

If the Progressive-Democrats want to cooperate and work with Republicans or with Trump, Republicans and Trump should listen to them. If not, Republicans and Trump should move on without hesitation and without the Progressive-Democrats.

Of course, that also will require the Freedom Caucus of No to quit their own knee-jerk obstructionism and work with Republicans and Trump.

There is a long chain of mutual accusation, each claiming the other started it. I have no doubt in my mind that there were serious escalations by the Democrats in the 1980's and in the early 2000's. However, everyone will see this differently, and there is no way that anyone will persuade them of this. Human nature precludes it. There are game theory experiments about generosity versus retribution which suggest that there are impasses which can only proceed with restarts.

As a practical matter, mercy can only exist in the context of justice operating first, or it is perceived as mere lack of punishment for doing evil.

From both a game theory and a justice standpoint, then, the only strategy that is likely to work is to first apply strict, harsh justice once. The Democrats must receive the justice they have administered themselves, with no mercy given.

At the next pass, however, or the 2nd or 3rd appropriate instance after, the Republicans should be looking for, hoping for, an opportunity to show mercy instead. That may reset the situation going forward. It is very much worth a try, because that would be what decent people do.

The caveat is that with sociopaths, mercy is always perceived as weakness and advantage, and even this decent gesture will avail not. Still, Republicans can't know that until they run the experiment. I have no hope for the Obamas or Schumers or Clintons to rise above sociopathy. Yet if even a decent percentage of other Democrats can be split off by this gesture, it will be worth it.

And they'll say that about you -- after all, they can point to Donald Trump as the head of the party....

Trump isn't the opposition. And when the Republicans were in the opposition, they were ignored and overridden. The Progressive-Democrats have an unbroken chain of slurs and slanders rather than reasoned argument for at least the last dozen years (I'm ignoring their foul behavior regarding Bork and Thomas, for now). Now that they're the opposition, they've increased the volume and scurrilousness of their ad hominem attacks; they don't even pretend, anymore, to reasoned discourse.

The vast weight in the misbehavior balance is the Progressive-Democrats'. If they want respect, they have to behave respectably. There aren't any nearby Republican analogs to Obama, (Susan) Rice, Clinton.